The E-ZPass scam

Did you see the story in the Advance on Monday about two suspected toll scofflaws who owe the Port Authority a total of almost $60,000?

One, an Eltingville woman, skipped paying the toll a staggering 1,114 times, according to the P.A. The other, a Great Kills-based company, is charged with not paying the toll 639 times, according to court papers.

We have no sympathy for people who try to get away without paying the same steep tolls the rest of us have to pay. They deserve the mess they’re in if the charges are accurate.

But we were struck by the amount the P.A. is going after these deadbeats for - above and beyond the actual toll money, that is.

The Eltingville woman’s unpaid tolls amount to $5,280, but the Port Authority has tacked on an additional $26,600 in “administrative fees.”

All told, she owes $31,880.

Similarly, the Great Kills company’s unpaid tolls came to $9,755, but the administrative fees of $15,975 put the final bill at a whopping $25,730.

Combined, the P.A. is trying to extract $42,575 in administrative fees for $15,035 in unpaid tolls. The administrative fees are almost three times the amount of the unpaid tolls.

So just how does that work, exactly? The Port Authority’s administrative process must be gold-plated, indeed. Sure, it costs the authority money to record toll-beaters’ tags, send them warning letters and then go after them procedurally and legally. But surely those costs don’t come close to the amount the authority is raking in with those administrative fees.

What, exactly, is being administered at these high prices?

These are extreme cases, of course, and if these folks tried to beat the toll that many times, then they deserve some serious agita.

But what about those people who aren’t trying to beat the system but, for innocent reasons, fail to pay the toll? Not a few E-ZPass customers have found out the hard way that those same exorbitant administrative fees will be applied to them.

It can happen to anyone whose E-ZPass account balance goes below a certain level and is not promptly replenished. If they use the high-speed E-ZPass lanes on the bridges and their account is frozen, they can go days or even weeks without ever being aware there’s a problem. There is no light or signal in the high-speed lanes to let drivers know if their E-ZPass toll payment has been registered or not.

So the Port Authority charges these unwitting customers the full $8 toll plus a $25 administrative fee for each unpaid toll. So that bridge-crossing you thought would cost you $4 can wind up costing you $33. Repeat that mistake for a week or more and you can get dunned for hundreds of dollars. Regular E-ZPass commuters may not find out there’s a problem with their account for weeks until the violation notices start coming in the mail.

The Port Authority insists that it can’t put warning devices in high-speed toll lanes to show if an E-ZPass toll payment has registered because it could distract drivers.

We’re not so sure that supposed safety concern holds much water; it sounds more like the P.A. prefers the current system because it’s such a lucrative revenue-generator.

In any case, there are other ways to let drivers know if there is a problem with their E-ZPass account, before they start getting dunning notices.

When an Advance editorial in February called attention to this patently unfair practice, it got the attention of Sen. Charles Schumer, who made an issue of it. He said, “There are some people who could pay $250 a day without knowing it because their balance has expired. This is outrageous.”

He called on the toll agencies to implement a text-message warning system in order to alert drivers whenever their E-ZPass balances are low.

Assemblyman Michael Cusick echoed, “Staten Islanders count on E-ZPass. To be socked with a fine when they have no idea when they’re at that threshold is unfair.”

A spokesman for the P.A. declared, “We take the issue of toll evasion very seriously and continue to take appropriate steps to recover the money that is owed to us.”

Fair enough, but administrative fees that total three times the amount of the highest toll do not represent money that is “owed” to the P.A. It’s plunder, plain and simple, and the practice, without any fair warning, smacks of an opportunistic scam.

The question is what the authority plans to do to become more consumer-friendly.